/ Church in Ukraine / Structure of UGCC:
THE PAPAL VISIT TO UKRAINE    
June 23-27, 2001    
Church in Ukraine

A Survey of Christianity in 21st Century Ukraine
Orthodox Churches in Ukraine
The Catholic Churches of Ukraine
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the Underground
A Brief History of Christianity in Ukraine
Ukrainian Religious Heroes
Roman Catholic beatifications (June 26, 2001): Short biographies
Greek Catholic beatifications (June 27, 2001): Short biographies
Twentieth Century Leaders of the UGCC
List of Bishops of the UGCC
The Byzantine Rite
Charitable institutions of UGCC
Monastic orders and religious congregations of the UGCC
Sanctuaries of UGCC
Structure of UGCC
Catholic Educational Institutions in Ukraine


UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH

NEW SITE: Up-to-date information is now maintained at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church official website at www.ugcc.org.ua/eng/.

 

The UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH (UGCC) is the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches sui juris.

The UGCC is a Church of the Byzantine rite which is in full ecclesial communion with the Pope of Rome and acknowledges his spiritual and jurisdictional authority. In this context "rite" means liturgical, theological, spiritual and canonical tradition.

OTHER NAMES FOR THIS CHURCH: Uniate Church; Greek Catholic Church; Greco-Catholic Church; Ukrainian Catholic Church; Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite; Kyivan Catholic Church.

The name Greek Catholic Church was introduced by the Empress Maria-Teresa in 1774 to distinguish this Church from the Roman Catholic and Armenian Catholic Churches.
In official church documents the term Ecclesia Ruthena unita was used. In 1960 the name Ukrainian Catholic Church started to be used in official documents to refer to Ukrainian Catholics in the diaspora and the underground Church in Soviet Ukraine. In the papal statistical annual Annuario Pontificio the name Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite is used. At the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC (September 1999) the name Kyivan Catholic Church was proposed, to emphasize the identity of this Church.

STRUCTURE AND EPARCHIAL GOVERNMENT

In 1963 the Roman Apostolic See officially declared the UGCC a Major Archiepiscopal Church. The head of the Church is a Major Archbishop, equal in rights to a Patriarch, but in the traditional ranking of hierarchs stands directly after a Patriarch.

The UGCC consists of one metropolitanate and exarchate in the territory of Ukraine and 3 metropolitanates, 3 eparchies and 3 apostolic exarchates outside of Ukraine. There are 32 bishops.

In its direction and organizational activities the UGCC is governed by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (1991) and particular law. At the Synod of Bishops in August 2000 there were 156 canons of this particular law passed ad experimentum.

The organs of highest authority of the UGCC are:
- the Major Archbishop
- the Synod of Bishops, which includes all the bishops of the UGCC

CONTEMPORARY STATUS

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest Eastern Catholic Church in the world. It has over 5.5 million faithful.

According to statistics given by the Ukrainian Government's Committee on Religious Matters, as of January 1, 2001 the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has:

Communities Monasteries Educational Institutions Priests Sunday schools Churches
3240 78(1188 monks and nuns) 12(1588 students) 1976(53 of which are foreigners) 755 2721(306 are being built)

The head of the UGCC is Major Archbishop, Metropolitan of Lviv and Galicia, Bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Lubomyr Cardinal Husar.
The Major Archbishop's apocrisiarius (official representative), Bishop Ivan Khoma, lives in Rome.

From 1989 to 2001 eleven Episcopal Synods were held. There were also 2 sessions of the Patriarchal Sobor (Council): the first was dedicated to the question of the new evangelization (1996) and the second to the role of the laity in the life of the modern Church (1998). A third session is planned for 2003: Jesus Christ, Source of the Rebirth of the Ukrainian People. This will discuss Ukrainian social problems, in particular abortion, divorce, corruption and alcoholism.

TERRITORY

From 1989 to 1992 following its emergence from the underground, the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine consisted of three eparchies - Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Mukachiv. At the Synod of Bishops which was held in Lviv from 1 to 31 May 1992, a new territorial system was devised according to which the number of eparchies increased by four: Ternopil, Zboriv, Sambir-Drohobych and Kolomiya-Chernivtsi. The Kyiv-Vyshorod exarchate, which occupies the territory beyond Halychyna, Transcarpathia and Bukovyna, received a separate status.
Recently, in accordance with the decision reached by the Synod of Bishops held in Buchach in August 2000, two new eparchies were created - Stryi and Sokal. Furthermore, the eparchies of Ternopil and Zboriv were reorganized into the Ternopil-Zboriv and Buchach-Chortkiv eparchies respectively.
As of November 2000, all of Ukraine falls under the jurisdiction of the Major Archbishop and the Synod of Bishops.

THE MAJOR ARCHBISHOPIC IN UKRAINE IS DIVIDED INTO THESE TERRITORIES:
1. The archeparchy of Lviv, headed by Major Archbishop Lubomyr;
2. The eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk, headed by Bishop Sophron Mudry;
3. The eparchy of Kolomiya-Chernivtsi, headed by Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk;
4. The eparchy of Sambir-Drohobych, headed by Bishop Yulian Voronovsky;
5. The eparchy of Ternopil-Zboriv, headed by Bishop Mykhailo Sabrych;
6. The eparchy of Buchach-Chortkiv, headed by Bishop Irenae Biluk;
7. The eparchy of Stryi, headed by Bishop Yulian Gbor;
8. The eparchy of Sokal, headed by Bishop Mykhailo Koltun;
9. The exarchate of Kyiv-Vyshorod, headed by Bishop Vasyl Medvit, to which the Greek Catholics of central and eastern Ukraine belong. Bishop Medvit is at the same time the Apostolic Visitator for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Kazakstan and Central Asia.

The autonomous status of the Greek Catholic Church's Mukachiv Eparchy has been preserved. It is formally a sui juris church not subordinated to the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Mukachiv eparchy, with its center in Uzhorod, is lead by Bishop Ivan Semedy and his auxiliary Bishop Ivan Margitych.

TERRITORY BEYOND UKRAINE WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE MAJOR ARCHBISHOPRIC:
- In Poland, the Greek-Catholic Metropolitanate of Przemysl-Warsaw, which includes more than one hundred parishes. The number of faithful exceeds three hundred thousand. It consists of the Przemysl-Warsaw archeparchy and the Wroclaw-Gdansk eparchy;
- In Western Europe there are three apostolic exarchates for Ukrainian Greek Catholics, located in Germany, France and Great Britain:
- In North America there are two Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitanates:

1. USA - The Metropolitanate of Philadelphia, which includes four eparchies: Philadelphia, Parma, Chicago and Stamford;
2. Canada - The Metropolitanate of Winnipeg, which includes five eparchies: Winnipeg, Edmonton, New Westminster, Saskatoon and Toronto.

In addition to these, there are UGCC eparchies in Buenes Aires (Argentina), Brazil and Melbourne (Australia). Ukrainian Greek Catholics have also settled in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, Paraguay, Venezuela, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium and Russia.

 Get the printable page

© Web design and programming - TRC Web Team, 2001
Support - Oleh Kuzo, 2001-2006, 2011
© The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 2001
Research by the - Lviv Theological Academy
All rights reserved.